Celeste Yarnall

Celeste Yarnall

The only child of a Navy Commander, American actress Celeste Yarnell was given her first name because (as the actress told TV Guide in 1968) her mother thought she was "celestial." Cashing in early on her cool-blonde beauty, Yarnell was the last winner of the Miss Rheingold crown (the contest was sponsored by a New York-based brewery), a fashion model, and a bit actress in the years before she met her future husband, Sheldon Silverstein, at a Hollywood party. Silverstein became her manager and schemed to turn his new client into the next Raquel Welch by squiring her around at the Cannes Film Festival. The result was a slew of magazine cover appearances and the starring role in a British-Spanish "nudie" jungle movie titled Eve (1968), which showed Yarnell's physical attributes, if not her acting skills, to good advantage. She later appeared in Live a Little, Love a Little (1968) opposite Elvis Presley, but the bulk of Yarnell's work in the late '60s was on TV shows like It Takes a Thief, Land of the Giants, and Star Trek. Yarnell never truly got past the "This Year's Blonde" stage, and by the '70s was being featured in blood-spattered horror pictures and Philippine-made adventure quickies. Like many former starlets, Celeste Yarnell left the business for the more financially rewarding -- and less exploitative -- world of real estate. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide